Disney ‘makes 80 staff redundant’

As many as 80 workers at Disney Interactive have been made redundant, reports suggest.

Disney will not specify how many jobs it has cut from its business, though a statement sent to PaidContent confirmed “targeted” layoffs “as part of setting a strategic direction for future success in digital media.”

It is difficult to pinpoint which studios and sub-divisions Disney Interactive has cut into. PaidContent understands that job losses have been made to “the online side” of the business.

That could mean redundancies have been made to staff at Disney Online Studios – the group behind the successful Club Penguin franchise. Disney also has its Playdom social games division, which last year it paid $563 million to acquire, with a $200 million bonus package if targets are met.

The suggestion of cuts to Disney’s online business is particularly surprising since the group has shifted focus away from standard retail games and into social gaming.

That move was thought to come at the cost of over 200 jobs across studios such as Junction Point and the now-defunct Propaganda Games.

PaidContent claims that these new layoffs represent the last stage of its reorganisation.